Hard Knocks Features Bengals On HBO

Hard Knocks will feature the Cincinnati Bengals and Marvin Lewis, only one of the few NFL teams that is willing to let film crews into their facility to document training camp.

The Atlanta Falcons, Denver Broncos, Houston Texans, San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks and Washington Redskins passed on the series before the Miami Dolphins and first-year head coach Joe Philbin agreed to be the featured franchise.

Finding a subject will be easier in 2013 as reports on Friday night have the Cincinnati Bengals slated to appear on “Hard Knocks” for the second time in the last five years.

The news that the Bengals were the team was first tweeted by Paul Domowitch of the Philadelphia Daily News. That tweet quickly disappeared, but Domowitch is close enough to the Mount Laurel, New Jersey-based NFL Films for his report to have the utmost of credibility. Confirmation would come later on Friday evening from Joe Reedy, who provides blanket coverage of the Bengals for the Cincinnati Enquirer.

According to Reedy, an official announcement is “likely to happen” next week.

The Bengals are no strangers to “Hard Knocks” as they were the featured team during the 2009 edition. The Bengals would win the AFC North that season with a 10-6 record. A few of the highlights of that year’s “Hard Knocks” was Chad Ochocinco’s colorful interviews and the Bengals trying to sign first-round pick Andre Smith.

Smith could be an early storyline in 2013, as well.

The fifth-year right tackle was re-signed to a three-year, $18 million contract in April, but Smith skipped the team’s OTAs and was a no-show for this week’s mandatory three-day minicamp, which cost him $66,150 in fines as well as a $100,000 workout bonus.

Another potential storyline is Adam Jones, who found himself in trouble with the law once again after being arrested following an incident at a Cincinnati bar where he allegedly slapped a woman who may have thrown a drink on him after he refused to take a picture with her.